Christmas Fic Exchange- Merry Christmas, Afterall
by StormOfImagination
Summary: A lovely Christmas one-shot written for the Christmas Fix Exchange. Sometimes, when a Christmas seems like it's going to be blue, there might be a light through the snowstorm, afterall.


**AN: A very merry Christmas to my dear friend, Miss Sugarhigh. Enjoy, love! :)**

JJ sighed as she looked out the window at the dark sky, watching the snow fall as she ran one hand along her swollen belly. It was Christmas Eve, and the team had gotten called out the day before, leaving her at home alone for the night, since Henry was with Will for Christmas. She had wanted to go with them, but with a baby due to pop at any moment, she was strictly off work, on doctors, and Morgan's, orders.

She could just faintly see the twinkling lights wrapped around the big pine outside. She and Morgan had decorated two trees this year, in honor of their two years together; one smaller one that stayed inside, and they had also strung the big pine out front of Morgan's home with colored lights. While they'd known each other for years, it was two years ago that Morgan had finally made the move for them to become more than friends.

When they had first started to decorate, she and Morgan had hauled the boxes of lights out of the garage, although it was mostly Morgan moving the boxes and JJ opening them. As she had her back turned to the muscular agent, she hadn't noticed when he dropped the coil of lights down around her, tangling her in the glowing bulbs. Laughing when she shrieked, Morgan had unraveled her, spinning her into his arms and kissing her gently.

Now, glancing at the tree, she felt a pang of sadness, missing Morgan. They had talked briefly on the phone earlier in the evening, but it wasn't long before something came up and he had to go. They had a serial bomber with powerful political targets, and she couldn't help but worry that Morgan would pull some stupid stunt and end up hurt.

JJ was shaken from her reverie by the sound of her phone vibrating on the table next to her. Glancing at the screen, she saw that it was a text from Morgan. "Sorry Sweetcheeks, plane got delayed. Won't be there til tomorrow evening. Kiss my baby girl goodnight for me." Her shoulders slumped. It was bad enough that she didn't have Henry or Morgan for Christmas Eve, but the fact that she would be eating Christmas dinner alone was too much. "Will do." She responded, then slipped her phone into her pocket, heading upstairs to curl up with the Polar Express and a cup of hot chocolate. By the time the children got to the North Pole, JJ's eyes were drooping, so she pulled the blankets up to her chin and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

Snow fell as JJ slid across the ice with each graceful step, the solid water hissing underneath the thin blade on her skates. As she built up the speed she needed, sliding around the corner on the frozen lake as the speakers played the usual Christmas carols. She easily slipped around the other skaters, until she had the space she needed. Taking one final step, she pushed off, jumping into the air, clearing the ice as she spun, her hair twirling around her. But, instead of the easy landing she was expecting, she felt a pair of familiar muscular arms wrap around her waist and pull her out of the air, dipping her towards the ice as she caught her breath. Smiling, she looked up into Derek's smiling face as he set her back up. She felt a tiny hand slip through hers, and as she looked down, she saw her and Derek's beautiful baby girl; with mocha skin under the big white coat, Derek's dark hair and JJ's beautiful blue eyes and rosy cheeks, she looked like an angel. JJ felt tears come to her eyes as she looked at their daughter, who was everything she had ever dreamed of.

JJ jolted awake to the same baby girl she had been dreaming of, only much younger, kicking violently, a sure sign that she was hungry. With a sigh, she sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and slipping on her slippers before struggling to get up off the bed. When she was finally up, she walked downstairs slowly, turning on the lights as she went.

When she stepped into the kitchen, she noticed that the snow was nearly up to her waist, and had blocked the back door with almost three feet of snow. Rubbing her face, she knew that meant Derek would be even later coming home tonight, because he would have to wait for the roads to be cleared.

She made herself a cup of tea, looking longingly at the coffee maker as the teapot boiled. Looking at the clock to see that it was nearly noon, JJ set her mug down, dragging the ham from the freezer and into the sink, surrounding the bird with hot water to defrost.

As the waiting began, JJ found herself on the couch, looking at all the presents that were stacked underneath the tree, the presents that would have to wait until someone was home with her. Gradually, they had built up throughout the month; She and Henry would stack presents they got for Derek, She and Derek would stack presents they got for Henry, Henry and Derek would stack presents that they got for JJ. But as she looked at the presents, she couldn't help but feel a little blue. Normally, on a beautiful Christmas Day like today, she would've been woken up by Henry, excited to see what Santa brought. They'd be out playing in the snow, but instead, today she was sitting alone, waiting for her family to come home. The presents were just another painful reminder.

As she glanced out the window at the snow and the tree outside, she noticed something odd; there were two huge presents outside that hadn't been there the night before. One was smaller than the other, wrapped in blue with gold ribbons; the other, the larger of the two, was wrapped in red with a huge gold bow. Frowning, confused as to where they could've come from, JJ stood up once more, this time walking to the closet to put on snow gear. When she had finally wrapped herself and her giant bump in enough layers, she opened the front door, grateful for the sheltered porch that kept the worst of the snow out on the lawn, instead of on the front porch.

Almost instantly, she could feel the cold nipping at her cheeks, and she knew that they would be pink by the time she made it out to the giant boxes. As she waded through the snow, just about to be able to reach the boxes, she heard a pop, and off came the lid of the two boxes! Squealing, JJ fell backwards into a drift, landing square on her butt. When she looked up again, she realized that the two boxes held just what she wanted for Christmas; Derek and Henry! Both in snow gear, they pushed themselves up out of the boxes. Derek got to her long before Henry, helping her up and brushing her off before hugging her tightly. A grin split JJ's face, and she hugged Derek as tightly as she could. She felt Henry wrap his still small arms around her waist as best he could, holding her as tightly as he could with the giant bump in the way.

"You told me that you wouldn't be home til late tonight." JJ said softly, when she pulled away from the two of them. "And Henry was supposed to be with Will until tomorrow evening."

Derek grinned. "Haven't you ever heard of Christmas Miracles, Jayje?" he asked softly, kissing her forehead. "Now come on, let's get you and little miss inside and warmed up. We don't want the two of you to get sick."

JJ smiled and nodded, lacing her fingers through Derek's as they walked inside, Henry holding onto Derek's other hand. "Let's get some presents opened." Henry's face lit up like a lightbulb, and he skipped excitedly, nearly dragging the two of them inside with him.

Once the snow gear had been shed and they had curled up together, with Derek and Henry on the floor and JJ up on the couch due to the baby, they started in on the presents. Derek and Henry looked back and forth at each other, a grin spreading across Derek's face.

"I think you get to open one of yours first, Jayje." he said, smiling at the surprise on her face.

"Me? Why me?" JJ asked, smiling. "Don't you think that Henry might want to open one of his first?" When she looked down at her son, she saw him shaking his head.

"No momma, you wanna open yours first." He said, grinning much like Derek was.

"Okay, if you say so."JJ said with a shrug as Derek handed her the plain box, about the size of a big textbook. JJ slowly opened the box, curious what was so important that the two of them wanted her to open it first. When it was open, she was surprised to see another smaller box. Inside this box, was another smaller box. And the pattern continued until she was holding a tiny jewelry box. When she opened the final box, she gasped. Inside the tiny box was a gorgeous silver ring, with a diamond set in between two tiny sapphires.

"JJ, you know that I've loved you for a long time now, and we're having a beautiful baby girl, so.." Derek took a breath as he knelt in front of her. "JJ, will you marry me?"

"Yes. You didn't even have to ask." JJ whispered, hugging Derek tightly and watching as he slipped the ring on her finger, Henry clapping excitedly in the background. He kissed her softly, smiling as they pulled apart.

"I love you." Derek whispered.

"I love you too." JJ whispered back ,smiling as Henry eagerly started to dig through the presents under the tree, looking for one with his name on it. Just as Henry found one, she felt a stabbing pain in her stomach.

"Derek.." She said, wincing. "Merry Christmas."

Morgan turned to look at her, and then his eyes widened. "are we..?"

"We're having a baby!" JJ said, smiling.


End file.
